Rubberduckers finish well despite early troubles
2007-01-11
GETTING dumped on is never a pleasurable experience. Even more so if it means engine trouble with your boat before the actual race has started.
This was the scenario the rubber duck team of Wellington’s Steyn Basson and Jan Kriel had to contend with at the start of the Rat Race Media Trans Agulhas.
Weather conditions were fair when the race got underway at Plettenberg Bay’s Hobie Beach on 28 December.
The unusually large swells and waves however made the racers cautiously optimistic for what lay ahead.
The hopes of Basson and Kriel, racing for Champs Beverages in the P750 Blue Print class, were quickly deflated when a dumper wave crashed over their boat, ripping the petrol tank and fuel pipes from the craft.
The duo could only get on their way a full five minuteS after the rest of the field.
Apart from the problems at the start the damage to their engine also left them at a considerable disadvantage at the beach stops. The exchanging of the fuel tanks at each stop took five times longer as they had to make do with the broken pipe fittings.
The team had to play the catch-up game for the rest of the way but still managed to finish the leg in the fourth position.
A huge cold front causing wind speeds of 70km/h and swells of seven to ten metres resulted in the next day’s leg being cancelled - for the first time ever.
The rubber ducks were thus loaded and transported by road from Mossel Bay to Still Bay where the race organisers decided to host an area bound longhaul.
This race was made up of ten rounds extending over 9km each with a beach stop in each round.
Basson and Kriel won this section with veterans Wimpie Ackermann and Dian Giliomee breathing down their necks.
The results of each day was decided with contestant racing from point A to B in the morning as well as a surf circuit in the afternoon.
The winner of the latter was crowned the King of the Waves.
The minimal beach stops and rough waters around the escarpments made the third day of the Trans Agulhas from Still Bay to Struisbaai the hardest leg of the race.
All the racers had a successful start but 60km into the race the stormy conditions got too dangerous for the racers.
One team had to be airlifted with a helicopter as their boat was pounded on the rocks. The race was stopped at Witsand.
The following day the weather wasn’t any better and the leg from Struisbaai to Hermanus was cancelled.
A longhaul race over 100km which included 14 beach stops was held in the Struisbaai bay much to the enjoyment of the crowds.
Although not nearly perfect, the weather let up somewhat on the fifth day and the race continued from Gansbaai to the Strand.
Again the surf was huge with the waves at Onrus and Kleinmond being especially trying.
All the remaining participants however finished the race.
Team Champs Beverages finished third in the Blueprints longhaul and second in the King of the Waves competition.
“Seeing as this is our first Agulhas, we are very proud of this result,” said Steyn Basson.
Basson also won the sportsman’s trophy.
Another local team Francois Heyns (pilot) and Theo Rischbieter (co-pilot) also did well in the P750 Standard class.
Racing for GM Thorp/RTS Transport, the Paarl duo finished fifth in the long haul and fourth in the wave circuit competition. They competed in their second Trans Agulhas.
The overall winners of the race were (P750 Standard) Dreyer van Niekerk and Dudley de Reuck (Team Nexus), (P750 Blue Print) Wimpie Ackermann and Dian Gilomee (Team Headzone) and in the modifieds, Dave Barnett and Tjaart Oosthuizen (Team Renault).
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